The Curious Tale Of Peter The Pup - part 2

 I wanted my own version of Peter the Pup to display in my pop-up gallery so I asked a puppet maker (who'd made Muffin puppets for me before,) to create one. Although I payed upfront I never received it, after claims that the marionette had got lost in the post.

About ten years later I asked another craftsman to have a go, though I didn't know he'd been ill and was also moving house. He sent me a dog puppet but it wasn't really Peter the Pup, but when I found out the circumstances I didn't  bother him again.

In 2020, knowing that I wanted to make drawings  for a new painting (Dreamtime) I tried unsuccessfully to make my puppet look more like Peter, by changing his colour and adding bigger feet.

Hearing that my second puppet maker had recovered, I contacted him again for help. This time he was able to work from photographs and drawings of the original.  I think he captured the pup, spot on.

You can see the result on my latest Facebook and Instagram posts.

The Curious Tale of Peter The Pup - part 1

 Peter the Pup was a marionette made by Stanley Maile during the first world war from old rags and bits of cloth. The story goes that he made the puppet either in the trenches or (and seems more likely) while he was a prisoner of war.

I photographed and drew the pup in 1992 at the home of Ann Hogarth after he had been bought by the Hogarth family and found fame as Muffin the Mule's friend on Children's TV.

Over the years I used Muffin and Peter and friends in two of my paintings 'David's Journey' and 'Love That Dare's' as symbols of my childhood.

I am currently using them again in a new painting 'Dreamtime' which is about escaping from Lockdown.

Peter the Pup seems a good symbol for containment and escape considering his beginnings. (you can see a photograph of the puppet on my latest Instagram and Facebook posts.) 

A Pop-Up Studio

 I've accepted the invitation to be Artist in Residence at Haddenham Art Centre from 21st May- 28th May.

I'll be setting up a pop-up studio near the café and working on my current painting 'Dreamtime'. I hope to get it to an interesting stage by then so visitors can see what I'm aiming for and how I might finish it.

If there is room I'll also take along another finished picture and maybe some preliminary canvases to sell.

I won't be there all the time the centre is open, though I'll definitely be there on both Saturdays. However, my studio will be on display permanently during the week.

The Blank Signature

 I've always been intrigued by Magritte's painting 'The Blank Signature' with it's horse and rider being split up in a curious way by the forest.

I made a drawing of it to try and understand how it worked (which you can see on my latest Instagram and Facebook posts) as I want to use the idea to present the fleeing animals in my current painting 'Dreamtime'. 

Sometimes the bodies are shown in the spaces between the verticals and sometimes they overlay them. In my picture, I hope it will give a feeling of movement and also enhance the dreamlike quality. We shall see.

Installation

 I've just posted on Facebook and Instagram, photos of the work I made in 1997 entitled 'Offrenda'.

I made the installation first, in a pyramid shaped box and then did the painting.

The objects in the box were formerly things to draw and inspire the picture but over the years I've added stuff and felt it became an installation in it's own right. 

That's how it's presented now in my pop-up gallery.